UCONN MEN'S BASKETBALL: North Carolina State holds off Huskies in Jimmy V Classic

NEW YORK -- In the end, the Wolfpack was simply too much for Wolf & Co.

North Carolina State's superior size and strength inside overwhelmed UConn in the second half Tuesday night in a Jimmy V Classic game at Madison Square Garden.

After getting outrebounded in the first half, the Wolfpack pounded the boards in the latter and scored the bulk of their points on tip-ins and inside hoops en route to a 69-65 victory before a bi-partisan 11,840.

Just don't tell UConn coach Kevin Ollie that his team got out-toughed.

"We showed some toughness, we're getting better," Ollie said. "I liked our toughness. I wouldn't say they out-toughed us. They played a great game, they made tough shots, made more winning plays than we did."

Shabazz Napier had the hot hand early, scoring the Huskies' first 10 points of the game, and Enosch Wolf was strong off the bench, matching a career high in points (12) and grabbing a career-best nine rebounds. But it wasn't enough to prevent UConn from falling to 6-2.

The 25th-ranked Wolfpack improved to 5-2.

The game was tied at 53 after a Ryan Boatright driving layup with 6:31 to play. But NC State scored the next six points, on a pair of Leslie free throws, a Howell tip-in and a Leslie steal and breakaway dunk.

UConn would get to within three, but no closer.

Napier scored just four of his game-high 19 points in the final half.

"I felt like I wasn't as aggressive as I had been," the junior guard noted. "I also feel like we didn't run our plays with the same intensity as the first half. I tell the guys all the time, everybody's going to be up for the first half. The second half, you've got to fight yourself to get up."

Led by Napier's hot shooting, UConn led for most of the opening half, including 20-9 after an Omar Calhoun trey with 11:38 left. UConn buried four 3-pointers in the game's first 5 ½ minutes.

But the Wolfpack took a 32-31 lead into the break on a Lorenzo Brown runner with 1.4 seconds remaining.

"It wasn't anything they did," Boatright noted. "I felt like we lost that game."

Boatright followed Napier in the scoring column with 18 and Wolf was a big presence in his 21 minutes of action.

"He seems like he likes the big stage," Ollie said of Wolf, a 7-1 junior center. "He has confidence, gets to his spots and knows his limitations. Some players don't know their limitations, he does."

But UConn got precious little contributions elsewhere. DeAndre Daniels had seven points, four turnovers and just one rebound. Niels Giffey didn't have a single point, rebound or assist before fouling out, and Tyler Olander also went scoreless with just three rebounds.

"I told Tyler, in trying times, you can't stop trying," Ollie said.

The coach added that Daniels' back "locked up" at some point on Tuesday, but no one was making excuses.

"DeAndre's got to play better," said Ollie. "He knows that, first and foremost. I believe he has the talent, the ability to create more on the low post, not settle for 3's. He feels the worst. He's a competitor, he wants to play better."

Brown led NC State with 16 points and Scott Wood also scored 13 for the Wolfpack.

UConn is now 57-51 all-time in games at the Garden. It will return one more time this season on Feb. 6 to face St. John's, but is barred from this season's Big East tournament.

When it was over, Ollie scanned the assembled media in the press room and noted, "It's not going to be perfect with us, everybody in this room knows that."

"Our margin of error is not big," he added, before promising, "but we're going to be tough."